We put the human back in recruiting.

Stop Being Subjective

A Recruitment process is not the place for subjective statements. They aren’t believable. A hiring manager will skim straight past them.

Some examples of common subjective statements that are found on resumes are:

Excellent communication skills

Strong attention to detail

Creative leader

Innovative thinker

Can do attitude

Proactive

Hard worker

I want you to take a moment to review your resume and cover letters, are there any subjective statements there? If there is, please delete them now.

Here’s why:

Imagine you are walking down the street, you meet someone who is a total stranger and they say to you “Hi, my names Bob, I am a creative leader, have strong attention to detail, I am results orientated and have strong communication skills’. Your first thought will probably be “Well, that is an awfully odd way to introduce yourself” quickly followed by not really believing anything Bob just told you.

You don’t know Bob well enough to know if what he is saying is true and a hiring manager does not know you well enough to know if subjective statements in your application is true.
Don’t waste valuable time and space in your application writing subjective statements. When a hiring manager reads “I have strong attention to detail” or “I have excellent communication skills”, it really means nothing to them. You could be telling the truth or your self assessment may be inaccurate. Instead, use that time to write examples of your achievements, highlight what you have done in the past that will be of interest and value to the company you are applying for.

Give examples of your communication skills or attention to detail or leadership skills. If you have a subjective statement in your application, change it to an example of what you have actually done. If you don’t have an example of a time where you have used this skill, take it out all together.

If you cannot think of an example, you may still have that skill but if you are asked about it in an interview situation, you need to be able to give an example, not just say you can do it. Hiring managers want evidence that you can do what you say you can do and they want you to tell them how you can do it. It is expected that if you can do it, you will be able to tell them about it. So start practicing telling stories about your experience, not just for your interviews but for your applications.